Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Alphabet Soup

Hello , Alphabet soup coming up. As i hadnt yet a theme for thursdays , when i noticed the Hitchikers series taking 26 weeks,it triggered well thats the alphabet. There are so many records that don't really fit into this or that catagory here i thought well, ill run down from A to Z with those. Aphrodites Child's 666 (apocalypse) album is such a work, originally a double album and surprisingly alowed, as the number of the beast, or man as the cover states has many a supersticious corner shiver. Anyway quiet a daring undertaking in times when prog was sci-fi/fantasy inspired, to attempt to bring home the Apocalypse in music. I think Vangelis And Rousos Aphrodite's main children did rather well, but you can judge that yourself if you want. The second offering by Barry Adamson isnt 'light' either, in fact "Moss Side Story" was a rather daring first solo album.

PS good news for my friends from Lima, i re-upped and upgraded last years (10/18/06) Wednesdays post, so Modern Eon, Scars, Will Powers and the Pi the moviesoundtrack are available once more Wednesdays..again

When Vangelis and Rousos got together in 67 each already had some music history the plan was going to London and record there. On their way to London, they got stuck in Paris partially because they did not have the correct work permits and partially because of the strikes associated with the May 1968 events.

In Paris they signed to Mercury Records, christened "Aphrodite's Child" and released their first single "Rain and Tears", a reworking of Pachelbel's Canon in D major. With this song the band became an overnight sensation in France and several other European countries in which the single charted well, despite the song being sung in English and not French. In October of the same year, the band released their first album End of the World. The album contained an equal amount of psychedelic pop songs and ballads in the vein of Procol Harum or The Moody Blues. After extensive touring the second album, the rootsier "Let me love, let me live" came out in October, while the album It's five o'clock came out in December 1969 featuring more successful ballads (like the title song) but also songs that crossed many musical genres. The new tour was without Vangelis as he fancied staying and working in Paris.

The band began to record their magnum opus late in 1970: a musical adaptation of the biblical Book of Revelation, entitled 666. Relations between all the band members were not good at the time, and continued to worsen during the album's creation. Essentially, 666 was Vangelis' concept, created with an outside lyricist, Costas Ferris. The music that Vangelis was creating for 666 was much more psychedelic and progressive rock oriented than anything the band had done before. This did not sit well with the other band members, who wished to continue in the pop direction that had brought them success. By the time the double LP 666 finally came out in late 1971, and after having sold over 20 million albums the band split. Both Vangelis and Demis Roussos pursued successful solo careers, Roussos as a pop singer and Vangelis as one of the pioneers in electronic music.

Adamson left school and shifted into graphic design but quit shortly after, favouring to venture into the exploding punk rock scene of the late '70s. He joined ex-Buzzcocks singer Howard Devoto's band Magazine, playing bass guitar Barry played on all of Magazine's albums, and contributed to Devoto's solo album and his next band, Luxuria. He also contributed to the studio band Visage, playing in the ensemble's first two albums, Visage and The Anvil. After Magazine broke up, Adamson worked with another ex-Buzzcock, Pete Shelley, before joining Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He appeared in the first four of their albums: Then in 88 he decided to release his first solo album, Moss Side Story. His solo work is influenced by John Barry, Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone. Later works have included jazz, electronica, soul, funk, and dub styles. Adamson eventually began composing soundtracks for films, including Gas Food Lodging and Lost Highway. Adamson has forged his own highly acclaimed solo career with a series of distinctive and thematically linked soundscape albums.( Moss Side Story 89, Soul Murder 92, The Negro Inside Me 93, Oedipus Schmoedipus 96, As Above, So Below 98, The Murky World of Barry Adamson 99, King of Nothing Hill 02 and Stranger on the Sofa 06.